Anybody visiting the PCC campus from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening (September 25-26) would have found the place oddly deserted. Not one student could be found researching in the library, writing papers under the gazebo, or playing video games in the dorm rooms—because everybody was in Idyllwild, deliberately avoiding those normal pursuits. The All-Campus Retreat, the only mandatory part of our 4W program, is a yearly event designed with a few specific goals, not least of which would be “to gain an understanding of rest and reflection through the retreat experience,” something that students were already in need of.

Classes go in cycles, so now and then students are faced with a week where every professor has assigned a major paper or a test—like the week leading up to the retreat. Getting up on the mountain was literally a breath of fresh air. After the schedule for the evening was exhausted, many students spent the rest of the evening just relaxing under the stars (coming from Ontario, students had nearly forgotten what stars look like). It would have been nearly impossible to not fulfill another of the goals of the retreat—appreciating God’s creation and praising Him for it.

Bill Godfrey, a student in his 4^th year at Westminster Seminary, spoke in 3 sessions on PCC’s motto and our theme for the year, “In Christ All Things New.” Drawing on stories like the tower of Babel and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant, he pointed to our separation from God and how that separation will disappear when Christ does indeed make all things new.

Other activities of the weekend served to better connect the PCC community. A few organized games taxed students’ creative abilities, quizzed them on their knowledge of each other, and covered each other in ice cream and toppings. Even the unplanned times saw students coming together for games or just to sit and talk. Many got a chance to spend time with other people that they had been missing under the crunch of homework.

Most important, however, was the knowledge that this wasn’t simply a getaway, but an opportunity to learn how to rest. It’s easy for the stresses of college life to get a person caught up—even to such an extent that one’s relationship with Christ suffers. With this retreat, we tried to recognize the value of rest, the importance of being still to know God. Hopefully, that concept made its way down the mountain…after all, only a few more weeks and the cycle tests and papers will come around again. Maybe now we will be better equipped to deal with the pressures.